Minerva McGonagall and the Mysterious Light
by SunnyInOregon
Summary: Minerva keeps seeing an unusual light in the middle of the night. What is it all about?


**Authors Note: Takes place after Prisoner of Azkaban and before Goblet of Fire. Some of the events in this story do not coincide chronologically with the events of POA. There is a reason for this but you must read the entire story to find out why.**

Minerva McGonagall and the Mysterious Light

Summary: Minerva keeps seeing an unusual light in the middle of the night. What is it all about?

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I'm just playing with them.

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Minerva hunched her shoulders and pulled the wool cloak tighter about her body. The castle was cold this time of night and her lack of sleep wasn't helping her any. Normally, she would be warmly tucked into her bed and fast asleep, however, Severus was in the hospital ward and Albus had asked her to make the nightly rounds.

Severus had a slight concussion from being on the receiving end of an ill-placed Expelliarmus. It had thrown him through a bedpost and head first into the headboard of a very large and very old oak bed. Then he had the gall to say that Harry had done it on purpose. The poor boy was scared to death, what with Sirius Black in the room. Severus must have startled the boy causing him to accidentally hex his teacher.

She shivered and contemplated calling it a night when a flash of light at the bottom of the stairs caught her eye. Frowning, she continued to peer in that direction until she saw the light again. Wand at the ready, she hurried down the stairs to see what was going on.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, she lit her wand and looked around. There was no one in sight; however, she could detect the distinct odor of popcorn. "What are those crazy house elves doing making popcorn at this time of the night?" she wondered aloud.

She decided to have a word with them. They were most likely the cause of all this light flashing as well. She marched over to the portrait that covered the entrance to the kitchen and tickled the pear. The portrait swung open to reveal a completely empty room.

Minerva stepped cautiously over the threshold and looked around. A slight pop alerted her to the arrival of a house elf. She looked down and smiled at the tiny creature.

"Good morning Professor Ma'am. How may Jen-Jen be of service to you?" the house elf squeaked.

"Hello Jen-Jen," Minerva smiled warmly. "Tell me – has anyone been in here cooking in the last half hour?"

Jen-Jen's eyes went wide as she shook her head. "No ma'am! Was we supposed to? Jen-Jen is very sorry. Jen-Jen will punish herself and then get to the cooking." She turned to walk away then stopped and looked over her shoulder. "What is it ma'am is needing cooked?"

"First of all, you are not to punish yourself," Minerva replied sternly. "You've done nothing wrong and even if you had, the Headmaster has forbidden house elves from punishing themselves. Did you forget?"

Jen-Jen hung her head. "I is sorry, I did forgets. I will cook now."

Minerva shook her head. "I don't need any food, thank you. I was looking for answers and you gave them sufficiently. Thank you and good night."

"You is welcome, Professor Ma'am," Jen-Jen replied with a bow. "Good nights."

Minerva turned and walked back out into the hallway barely avoiding the closing portrait. Once again she detected the odor of popcorn. 'How unusual,' she thought. 'My senses must be out of sorts due to the late hour.'

She turned towards the stairs determined to go to bed when she heard noises coming from the stairwell leading to the dungeons. Another flash of light came from that direction. She hastened off to investigate. Quietly she tiptoed down the stairs stopping at the lowest step and peering around the edge of the wall. She could make out the steady light of a wand in the distance. Keeping to the shadows, she crept down the corridor.

As she got closer she realized there were two people in the hallway: Harry Potter and – Severus? What was he doing down here? He's supposed to be in bed in the infirmary. If he is well enough to be wandering the halls and harassing poor Harry then she was going to give him a piece of her mind – she would rather be in bed herself.

She was about to make her presence known when Remus Lupin stepped out of the far shadows to confront the pair. She wasn't close enough to hear what was going on but she could see everything. She nearly yelped out loud when Severus jumped at Harry and ripped something from the boys' hand. He held it out to Remus whom took it cautiously.

They spoke for a few more minutes before Remus motioned to Harry and led him down the side corridor. She watched Severus glare at the pair then stalk off angrily in the other direction towards his own quarters. Deciding to find out why Severus had left the infirmary now instead of in the morning, she fleetingly followed him in the inky blackness. The corridor was very dark as there no candles nor were there any windows to allow the moonlight to seep in. She wished that she could light her wand but she didn't want to upset the portraits, nor did she want to alert Severus to her presence just yet.

She hurried as best she could to keep up as Severus always did have a long stride and when angry he moved in quicker. Gasping, she slid behind an empty suit of armor as Severus paused and turned around. She held her breath as she waited. Severus grimaced before turning and striding off into the darkness. She giggled silently, thinking she would make a good auror if she could follow Severus Snape and not be detected.

Another flash of light revealed the empty corridor in front of her. She scrambled to catch up to her prey. Several minutes later she reached the door to his rooms. Taking a moment to compose herself, she the knocked. Not a sound came from the other side of the door. She glanced around, surely she hadn't passed him. She knocked again.

Frowning, she wondered if he was alright. What if he had collapsed upon reaching his room and was now lying unconscious on the floor? He shouldn't have been out of bed in the first place and marching around the corridors like an angry tomcat didn't help either. She reached for the doorknob and hesitated. Severus hated people entering his private domain without his bidding; but if he was injured he couldn't open the door himself, could he? 'Maybe I should summon Albus,' she thought. 'No I better do it now and not waste any more time.'

She grasped the handle and twisted it sharply before she could change her mind. The door swung open easily. Carefully, she peered into the silent room.

"Severus?" she called out hopefully. "I know you are in here. I saw you in the corridor. Are you alright? Severus?"

She stepped into the sitting room and lit her wand. The room was empty.

"Maybe he made it to his bed," she muttered as she silently wished she was in hers. She moved across the room and once again hesitated at the door.

"Don't be a moron," she chastised herself. She pushed the door open wide revealing Snape's bedroom to her gaze. The very large bed was as empty as the rest of the room.

"What does he need such a big bed for?" she wondered. "Must get lonely sleeping in that thing all by himself."

Without thinking she crossed the room and flopped onto the bed testing it for herself. "Not bad," she said covering a yawn. Suddenly she sprang to her feet. "Ack! What am I doing?"

She smoothed the covers and willed her heart to slow down. 'I must be desperate if I am getting all excited about laying on a man's bed when I'm all by myself,' she thought.

One last place to look – the bathroom. "Severus," she called out. "Come out of the bathroom or I am coming in."

There was no response. "Merlin's beard," she muttered. "Now I have to go in there!" She took a deep breath and marched across the room to the bathroom. It too was empty.

"Where the hell is he?" she wondered aloud as she turned to survey the room again. Her heart skipped a beat as she thought he may have been called by Voldemort. "He'll never survive in the shape he is in."

He never talked about the goings on at a Death Eater meeting but she knew it took a toll on him. He was often more than tired after a night of reveling. She had seen the haunted look in his eyes and the shake in his perfect hands on too many occasions.

Resignedly, she left his rooms and made her way up the stairs. As she reached the main floor she wished that the dungeon stairs moved like the others. No wonder the man stayed so skinny, those stairs could give anyone a workout. She began her ascent of the main staircase. Reaching the third floor, she heard a wolf cry out.

That's weird, she thought. She only knew of one wolf in the area and he was in the basement – with Harry! She ran across the corridor in the direction from which she had heard the wolf. An open window revealed a full and bright moon lighting the landscape.

There, in the distance, she could make out several human forms on the hillside. They were too far away to make out clearly. She grabbed her glasses and transformed them into binoculars. Now she could make out the people clearly. There was Remus, in werewolf form, and Severus as well. "That's where he went," she grumbled. "Foolish man." And behind him were the Golden Trio – Harry, Ron and Hermione! She watched in horror as Remus swiped at Severus, knocking him and the children to the ground.

Suddenly a large black dog appeared from nowhere and jumped onto Remus. He threw the dog to the side and took a step towards Severus and the children. They're all in danger, she thought. I must get to them quickly!

She re-transfigured her glasses, tucked her wand inside her robes and transformed into her animagus form: a cat. She dashed towards the stairs, praying that they would cooperate and get there quickly to the main floor. She was nearly there when she saw Mrs. Norris run past chased by that tomcat Crookshanks. She thanked the Gods for small miracles that he was otherwise occupied as that tom was always trying to get into her skirts in this form. It was downright embarrassing.

She made it to the main floor, across the hall and out the hidden pet door that allowed all the animals at Hogwarts to roam freely about the grounds. She heard a dog yelp and then the bonging of the tower clock as it struck the hour. There were more flashes of light though the night was clear and she knew there could not be any lightning storms at this time of the year. Her heart pounding, she reached her destination and quickly changed back into human form.

The night was silent and once again she was alone. Where did they go? She stood near the base of the whomping Willow knowing that this all felt eerily familiar.

"Something isn't right here," she said aloud. "I really need to go to bed! I'm having delusions!"

With a shake of her head she turned into a cat and headed back to the castle. She re-transformed inside the main foyer. Muttering to herself all the while, she climbed the stairs. "I'll bet Severus is still safely tucked in bed in the infirmary. I'll just go by and check."

Minerva walked into a nearly deserted infirmary and smiled as she spotted Severus Snape tucked in his bed. He looked so innocent in his sleep. She crept across the room and smirked at his sleeping form. He's sleeping so soundly I could parade a thousand Hippogriffs through here and he wouldn't know the difference, she thought. She glanced around the room to make certain they were alone. Stealthily, she grabbed the edge of the coverlet and pulled it back, exposing the naked Potions Masters.

My, my," she murmured as she measured up his wand. "Very impressive."

She slid her hand up his thigh to the juncture of his crotch. Suddenly her wrist was grabbed in a vice-like grip. The room turned very bright and she blinked repeatedly as she tried to get her bearings.

"Minerva,' Snape growled menacingly in her ear. She focused on him, now aware that he was upright and fully clothed. "Would you mind keeping your hands off my… pants?"

A snicker to her left made her aware that they were not alone. She turned her head to see the amused faces of her friends and co-workers.

"If you are going to grope someone in public Minerva, you should find someone worth groping," Hooch suggested with a wink.

Minerva retrieved her wrist from Snapes' grip and straightened in her seat. "I don't know," she replied primly. "It felt like a perfectly useful wand to me!"

"Leave my WAND out of the conversation," Snape sneered. "And speaking of public groping, could you two not shove your tongues down each throats when you are sitting in front of me?"

Hooch and Trelawny both giggled before Hooch replied. "You're the one who insisted on sitting in the back row. If you don't like the view, sit somewhere else."

"I don't like leaving my back exposed and you know it," Snape huffed.

Before anyone else could reply, Albus leaned around Hagrid and spoke. "Now that Minerva is awake, can we go outside? I believe that the movie is over."

Everyone gathered their belongings and shuffled out the door. Flitwick returned his booster seat to its holder and raced after his friends. They stood on the sidewalk and gathered their bearings.

"Eww," Snape moaned pulling at the damp cloth on his shoulder. "Must you slobber on me?"

He glared at Minerva who smiled awkwardly in return.

"I didn't mean to," she replied hastily.

"Why must you lay on me during the viewing of the historical documents?" he groused while dabbing at the wetness with a handkerchief.

"Well if you weren't such a sexy despot I wouldn't be inclined to lay on you," she smirked. He glared at her but she could see he was pleased with her answer.

"Headmaster," Hagrid cut in.

"Yes, Hagrid?"

"I was wondering if you could explain to me again about the historical documents," Hagrid said.

"Certainly my boy," Albus twinkled. "What don't you understand?"

"Well," Hagrid drawled. "A lot of things, but most importantly, why did you make them in the first place?"

"A good question," Albus beamed. "As you know, the Ministry of Magic is trying to subdue all information regarding the war. So I decided to put the information in a place where the ministry can't mess with it; the muggle world."

"But won't the muggles get suspicious?" Hagrid frowned.

Albus smiled. "One of the best things about muggles is their overactive imaginations. They believe that the stories about Harry Potter come from the imagination of one of their muggles."

"Why is that?" Snape interjected. "I mean, why are the stories about Harry? My part in the war is much more important."

"And boring," Hooch whispered loudly. Trelawney giggled as Snape glared at both of them.

"Curb appeal, Severus, curb appeal," Albus stated. The Potions Master raised an eyebrow. "While your story may be more important, Harry's is more intriguing. The muggles are buying millions of copies of the books and just as many are watching the movies."

"But what about the information that is missing," Flitwick asked impatiently. "There are obvious gaps."

Albus gave his friend a sad look. "I'm surprised at you Filius. Of everyone here I figured you would recognize a concealment charm. A with or wizard need only to cast Finite Incantatum to see the missing information. The charm automatically resets when the movie is over."

"Brilliant!" Filius exclaimed.

Hagrid scratched his head. "Won't the muggles notice the difference?"

Albus shook his head. "It goes too quickly for them to see."

"Is that why Minerva fell asleep?" Hooch asked innocently.

"I was tired," Minerva snapped defensively.

"Too much Snape groping," Hooch muttered. Trelawney giggled again, eliciting another glare from Severus. Albus chuckled and shook his head.

"Let's walk down to the apparition point," Albus suggested as he began strolling up the sidewalk. The rest of the group followed with Hooch and Trelawney in the lead. After a few blocks they stopped in front of a deserted office building. Albus discreetly cast a charm and the group stepped through the now open front door.

"I will see you all back at Hogwarts," Albus smiled. He lay his hand on Hagrid's arm and apparated them both away. Flitwick and Minerva left next, leaving Snape alone with Hooch and Trelawney. He turned to the pair and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Well?" he said impatiently.

"Well what?" Hooch asked.

"Are you leaving?"

"We were thinking about staying here and making out," she replied suggestively. "Want to stay and watch?"

Snape made a sour face. "In the words of the children, Madam, you are squicking me out!"

He disappeared with a pop leaving both women doubled over in laughter.

The End


End file.
